Triathlon Training and Cholesterol Levels

I didn't get around to finishing my gluten post. Hopefully tomorrow.

Stayed strong on the Paleo Challenge today. It wasn't too hard. This morning was more of a challenge, waking up and thinking "I have... eggs. And that's about it." I actually also had some bacon in the fridge, so I fried up a couple of pieces of that, spiced my eggs up with a little of this and a little of that (I think it was rosemary, garlic powder, salt, and red pepper flakes today), and grabbed an apple. My lunch and dinner were the same, finishing off the meat sauce I made a few days ago, but adding some chopped spinach to it for extra nutrients. This evening, though, I finally went to the grocery store, so more delicious things (and probably some pictures!) are in store for the next several days.

I also got back on my bike today. On Sunday I'm going to be doing my first triathlon, sprint length, up in Mystic, CT. The day I signed up I felt fairly confident that if I had to do it the next day, I'd be able to finish, and I signed up a month out. I figured this would give me time to make sure I still had some swimming and cycling abilities, having once spent considerable time on both of these. But I hadn't been in the pool since January (and before that probably not since September), and I hadn't been on my bike since... some time in 2010? It had been a while. So I got in the pool last week and convinced myself I could handle the half mile swim. I went to the gym and jumped on a spin bike for a while, got off and ran a few miles after, and that went okay, too. But I still needed to actually ride MY bike.

A few days ago, I was talking about the triathlon to one of my friends who has done several in the past. I think I was looking for advice about how to handle race day and what to expect, and I got that, but she also decided to sign up with me! And keep in mind, this is ONE WEEK from the actual event. So today we went out on a ride together, so that we could both make sure we could handle our clipless pedals. We did about 15 miles all together, so I'm feeling good about the 14 mile ride during the race. Just gotta finish it off with a 3-mile run and I'll be able to finally call myself a triathlete!

In OTHER news, I got the results of my cholesterol test today, which I'd been recommended for about a week earlier, but delayed actually getting done for a variety of lazy reasons. It works out really well, though, because now it can serve as a baseline for this Paleo challenge. I'm starting out with pretty good cholesterol levels as it is:
   Total cholesterol is 196 (ideal is less than 200)
   LDL is 94 (ideal is less than 130)
   HDL is 95 (goal is above 40)
But there is always room for improvement! The last time I had it checked was when I was in high school, and all I know is that it was good then, too. This means that my only cholesterol tests are from times when I've been highly active, but at least my lazy years didn't do significant (or irreversible) damage. I'll be interested to check it again in 6 months or a year and see if CrossFit and Paleo eating make an appreciable difference.